alcohol

al·co·hol

(ăl′kə-hôl′, -hŏl′)

n.

1. Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturated hydrocarbons, have the general formula CnH2n+1OH, and include ethanol and methanol.

2. A colorless volatile flammable liquid, C2H5OH, synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs, cleaning solutions, explosives, and intoxicating beverages. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol.

3. Intoxicating beverages containing ethanol considered as a group: the national consumption of alcohol.

Word History: The al- in alcohol may alert some readers to the fact that this is a word of Arabic descent, as is the case with algebra and alkali, al- being the Arabic definite article corresponding to the in English. The second part of the word, -cohol, comes from Arabic kuḥl, the word for a fine powder (most often made from antimony) used as a cosmetic to darken the eyelids. In fact, kuḥl has given us the word kohl for such a preparation. The Arabic phrase al-kuḥ, "the kohl," was borrowed into Medieval Latin as one word, alcohol, "koḥl." From Medieval Latin it was borrowed into English in the 16th century. In English, alcohol came to refer to any fine powder produced in a number of ways, as by heating a substance to a gaseous state and then cooling it. Alcohol could also be used to refer to essences obtained by distillation. One of these distilled essences produced by alchemists and early chemists, known as alcohol of wine, was the constituent of fermented liquors that causes intoxication, and the term alcohol came to refer to this essence (what modern chemists would call ethanol) in particular. Eventually, the liquors that contained this essence began to be called alcohol, too. In the terminology of modern chemistry, alcohol has also come to refer to the class of compounds to which ethanol belongs.

alcohol

(ˈælkəˌhɒl)

n

1. (Chemistry) Also called: ethanolorethyl alcohol a colourless flammable liquid, the active principle of intoxicating drinks, produced by the fermentation of sugars, esp glucose, and used as a solvent and in the manufacture of organic chemicals. Formula: C2H5OH

2. (Brewing) a drink or drinks containing this substance

3. (Elements & Compounds) chem any one of a class of organic compounds that contain one or more hydroxyl groups bound to carbon atoms. The simplest alcohols have the formula ROH, where R is an alkyl group. Compare phenol2 See also diol, triol

al•co•hol

(ˈæl kəˌhɔl, -ˌhɒl)

n.

1. Also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ethanol. a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid, C2H5OH, produced by yeast fermentation of carbohydrates or, synthetically, by hydration of ethylene: used chiefly as a solvent and in beverages and medicines.

2. an intoxicating liquor containing this liquid.

3. any of a class of chemical compounds having the general formula ROH, where R represents an alkyl group and –OH a hydroxyl group.

drug of abuse, street drug - a drug that is taken for nonmedicinal reasons (usually for mind-altering effects); drug abuse can lead to physical and mental damage and (with some substances) dependence and addiction

ethanol, ethyl alcohol, fermentation alcohol, grain alcohol - the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors; used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions and rocket fuel; proposed as a renewable clean-burning additive to gasoline

In the present research, phenethyl alcohol was the analyte with the second highest concentration; it had been reported as the largest odoriferous component in Finnish sherry and berry wines (NYKANEM, 1986).

Phenethyl alcohol, an essential oil component of rose oil, in combination with caprylyl glycol and glyceryl caprylate, is a new preservative for emulsion formulations, especially those of droplet particle size in the range of 100-900 nm.

Several plant species have active resistance to yeasts because of their production of compounds such as benzyl alcohol, cinnamyl alcohol and phenethyl alcohol, known for their anti-fungal properties (Lawton et al.

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